Fired Trump official slams former president's 'demeaning' loyalty pledge request

Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is anything but diplomatic about former President Donald Trump in her memoir. Yovanovitch served as the United States' ambassador from 2016 to 2019, the period during which Trump had the "perfect" phone call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In "Lessons From The Edge," according to an excerpt published by Business Insider, Yovanovitch details the internal turmoil she wrestled with as some in Trump's inner circle were conducting a smear campaign against her towards the end of her ambassadorship. She was under fire because she resisted their efforts to dig up dirt on the Biden family in advance of the 2020 election.

The ambassador was under pressure from Trump's people to record a statement pledging undying loyalty to the president. Doing so, she writes, was a step too far. “When I tried the loyalty pledge on for size, I couldn’t make it fit — not if I wanted to keep my integrity intact,” she said. “Even worse, I thought such a statement was demeaning — and wrong,” Yovanovitch added.

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Yovanovitch was recalled from Ukraine and fired by Trump in 2019.